Payment Choice Helps Decide Where Nearly Two-Thirds of US Shoppers Buy

A merchant can win the product search, the price comparison and the trip to checkout, only to discover that how a customer wants to pay can still influence where the purchase ultimately happens.

Payment acceptance now influences merchant choice for 65% of U.S. shoppers, according to the “Global Digital Shopping Index: U.S. Playbook, The New American Shopper,” a joint effort from PYMNTS Intelligence and Visa Acceptance Solutions. That figure has risen from 58% in January 2023 and 59% in January 2024.

The implications extend beyond the 7-percentage-point increase. Payment preference carries particular weight among consumers who are already among the most active digital shoppers. That puts acceptance closer to the decisions merchants make about attracting and retaining valuable customers, rather than treating it solely as a checkout function.

AI shoppers provide the clearest example. Among consumers who used artificial intelligence in their most recent shopping journey, 78% said acceptance of their preferred payment method strongly sways where they shop. Among shoppers who did not use AI, the share was 40%. AI shoppers also recorded 52 buying-related digital shopping days per month, compared with 28 among non-users.

AI use and shopping frequency are closely connected. Daily mobile browsers record 53 buying-related digital days per month, while millennials record 43, parents with children under 18 record 41 and frequent window shoppers record 40. Daily mobile browsers, high earners, parents, millennials and AI users are among the consumers driving growth and as the groups most likely to let payment acceptance affect where they spend.

Income, however, produces an important exception to that pattern. Higher-income shoppers are more digitally active and more receptive to artificial intelligence than lower-income consumers, yet payment sensitivity is identical: 65% of both groups say availability of a preferred payment method affects merchant choice. Payment choice, in other words, reaches well beyond the most affluent digital shoppers.

The behavior is also becoming more visible before checkout. Among consumers using mobile devices while shopping in stores, 16% checked which payment methods were accepted in March 2026, up from 11% in 2024, a 45% increase. Over the same period, use of phones to compare prices rose 18% and reading product reviews increased 30%.

Acceptance Has to Work Across the Shopping Journey

For merchants, the data identifies several practical responses. Broad acceptance of shoppers’ preferred payment methods is one. Reliable processing and clean dispute handling are others. Those become more consequential as payment problems persist: 78% of consumers reported no payment issues during their most recent purchase, down from 80% in 2024, while disputes and mistakes rose from 7% to 10%.

Consistency also matters across channels. The report recommends acceptance that works the same way across websites, apps and in-store experiences, reducing the possibility that a shopper encounters a payment limitation after moving between digital and physical touchpoints.

The findings point merchants toward gaps elsewhere in the purchase experience rather than simply adding more checkout features. Sixty percent of shoppers want price matching, while only 47% of merchants provide it. Mobile product locators, digital coupons and free shipping also remain undersupplied, while merchants provide some protection features at rates above measured consumer demand.

For merchants competing for the consumers who shop most often, payment acceptance therefore carries a double consequence. The 65% figure covers shoppers broadly, while the 78% reading among AI shoppers shows how much more exposed a merchant can be among a highly active segment. Those consumers have more buying occasions and less tolerance for obstacles when they are ready to transact.

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